Wednesday Coffee Talk - Flagstaff Still Stands!

Tuesday(Wednesday) Coffee Talk allows all of us to engage in community related topics and share your 2 cents worth

I was relieved to see on this past Sunday morning that Flagstaff was still standing! It didn't burn down, get cut down, or destroyed. Just to make sure I rode up Flagstaff to witness assumed destruction myself that must have occurred given all the fear PLAN-Boulder supporters had with the race going through open space. Here is what I saw...

Some grass was stepped on and bent and broken

Some logs had been place to prevent people from walking in nature

I saw foot prints in the dirt next to the road

paint and chalk on the roadway.

And now apparently open space is taking pictures to review before and after shots of the open space. PICTURES, REALLY!

Patton said any damage to Flagstaff appears minimal, though open space workers took pictures before the race and are taking more now to check for any disturbances.

"We're pretty optimistic," he said.

Volunteers helped clear trash left behind, though one vendor did leave trash bags in the parking lot at the top of Flagstaff. The trash bags were removed Monday morning, Patton said.

....

Gwen Dooley, a former Boulder City Council member and longtime Boulder environmental activist who opposed the Flagstaff finish, volunteered on race day. She said it took a "tremendous" amount of time for open space staff members to prepare for the event and assist on race day, and she's curious if sales tax revenue will outweigh the costs.

Fans generally were gracious and followed rules, she said. But she would prefer to see the race finish in a different location in future years, if it returns to Boulder. Her suggestion is Folsom Field at the University of Colorado campus.

From accounts of others, videos and photos, the worst thing that happened on flagstaff was the fans extreme enthusiasm and some believe, even the stage winner, that more fencing should be applied to keep back the fans.

IMO this race/stage is a perfect example of how open space, Flagstaff and competitive events CAN live together. This should open the doors to

Flagstaff Hill Climb, both bike and running

use it as a finish to a smaller but still pro cycling event (Remember the Red Zinger Classic about 12 years ago?)

Start of a road race or endurance MTB that finishes in Ned

Please let elected officials know that this IS apporpriate use of our Open Space.

News Item:

12 Comments

Someone should check into the post-race conditions at Civic Center Park after the Denver Stage.
Seriously, the "Occupy" (anything but a job) people should be pissed at the thousands of people who invaded their home and interrupted their...whatever.

We could run the Baja 1000 in Civic Center Park and it would look better than the mess that the Occupy movement has created. The one thing that won't be occupied is a trash can with the garbage that Occupy Denver leaves behind. And every one of the save the environment types has a stinking cigarett in their mouth. Thankfully the bike race gave those of us who work near Civic Center a clean healthy (smoke free!) alternative to the Occupiers.

I'm the guy that brought the music system up to mid-mountain. We did this on Indy Pass for two days as well. On Indy, we took pictures of us dancing with the state patrol. Race photogs lined us up at the KOM banner and dozens of folks took photos. Dozens o people approached me on Indy and Flag to say they had a great time. On Flag, the BPD started our day by barking orders for us to "cycle on the right" as we approached the large barricade at the base blocking the right lane. The "green shirt" staff gave us a virtual 1-1 chaperone as we set up and started playing music. They were looking for any reason to shut us down. We did our absolute best not to give them one. As the race approached, an OSMP ranger asked me to help get the gathered crowd in check. He also said "the organizers said there'd be zero impact on the mountain from this race" then, pointing at all the bikes and kid trailers parked on the pullout (5 tons of road aggregate from highway building BTW) he said "this doesn't look like zero impact. If you want to do this again, you better make sure this is pristine before you leave." I assured him we would clean up (accepting responsibility for 200 people since apparently our music caused them all to be there). I rode up with my kids the day after and found only left over costume boa feathers. My friend was harassed by OSMP personnel and told they were going to come shut us down, though they never did. I turned off the music as the riders approached and told the crowd to respect the riders as they came through. The crowd started chanting "respect the riders" and a cheer went up. Boulder needs to take a page from Summit County (Swan mtn stage), the State Patrol and Aspen. This was a fun family event that will be remembered for generations. Memories are as important as open space. I hope next time we have less of a Gestapo approach to tho event. It was an embarrassment for Boulder.

Oh your comment just gets me for fired up, the entire way open space managed the day and how open space supporters treated this event is out right CRAP! Really, I invite all cyclists to take a ride up Flagstaff as soon as possible and look for yourself and see how much "damage" is there. If absolute preservation is so extremely important than I'm done with Open space. Yes I still like having the land preserved from home or comercial construction but this administration needs to be removed and one that is more open to USAGE of open space needs to be put in place, because after reading the above comment titled "Police State" they will no longer get my vote or any politician that stands on a platform of open space.

BULLSHIT! The OSMP staff were courteous, and had just as much fun as everyone else, they worked to make sure it can come back next year. I was right there when they spoke with you, they were looking out for everyone's interests!

I don't know that you can call B.S. The guy who talked to me was indeed courteous. He could have shut us down on the spot. I didn't say he wasn't courteous. I was characterizing what he said. He said the expectation was "zero impact". My response to him was "yes sir, we will do everything we can to make sure we can continue this tradition." The next day I rode up with my kids and picked up plastic straws and colored costume feathers, just to make sure it was squared away. Up to that point, we had green shirt employees (I thanked them for volunteering and they said they had been paid) stationed on either side of us and their leader paced back and forth in front of me for three hours pre-race. If anyone traveled off the pullout, he would chase them out of the woods or off the rocks. The race volunteers were very friendly and were obviously not coordinated with the green shirted OSMP employees. I've been to dozens of race events and typically the police personell are friendly, offering a wave or a smile. At the base at 7am, we started merging left to go around the barricade and an officer barked for us to stay far right, which would have made our path a 90 degree angle at the barricade. I then had a friend harassed lower down on the mountain for drinking. OSMP rangers detained him while all around, folks were blatantly drinking beer and other beverages out in the open. I'm simply saying the authorities were out in force and lent the whole day an atmosphere of authority that was not present at other stages.

Again, missing key elements of that story, your "friend" who was detained was drunk, riding a bike with a kid trailer on the back swerving all over the mountain nearly hitting many people and the rangers received many complaints about him. To top it off when they finally stopped him he had his kid in the back, he's lucky he didn't get arrested.

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